dache."

"A headache, dear; that's not usual with you."

"I have seen that she has not been well all the evening," said Lady
Staveley; "but I thought that perhaps she might shake it off. You had
better go, my dear, if you are suffering. Isabella, I'm sure, will
pour out the tea for us."

And so she got away, and skulked slowly up stairs to her own room.
She felt that it was skulking. Why should she have been so weak as to
have fled in that way? She had no headache--nor was it heartache that
had now upset her. But a man had spoken to her openly of love, and no
man had ever so spoken to her before.

She did not go direct to her own chamber, but passed along the
corridor towards her mother's dressing-room. It was always her custom
to remain there some half-hour before she went to bed, doing little
things for her mother, and chatting with any other girl who might be
intimate enough to be admitted there. Now she might remain there for
an hour alone without danger of being disturbed; and she thought to
herself that she would remain there till her mother came, and then
unburthen herself of the whole story.

As she went along the corridor she would have to pass the room which
had been given up to Felix Graham. She saw that the door was ajar,
and as she came close up to it, she found the nurse in the act of
coming out from the room. Mrs. Baker had been a very old servant in
the judge's family, and had known Madeline from the day of her birth.
Her chief occupation for some years had been nursing when there was
anybody to nurse, and taking a general care and surveillance of the
family's health when there was no special invalid to whom she could
devote herself. Since Graham's accident she had been fully employed,
and had greatly enjoyed the opportunities it had given her.

Mrs. Baker was in the doorway as Madeline attempted to pass by on
tiptoe. "Oh, he's a deal better now, Miss Madeline, so that you
needn't be afeard of disturbing;--ain't you, Mr. Graham?" So she was
thus brought into absolute contact with her friend, for the first
time since he had hurt himself.

"Indeed I am," said Felix; "I only wish they'd let me get up and go
down stairs. Is that Miss Staveley, Mrs. Baker?"

"Yes, sure. Come, my dear, he's got his dressing-gown on, and you may
just come to the door and ask him how he does."

"I am very glad to hear that you are so much better, Mr. Graham,"
said Madeline, standing in the doorway with averted eyes, a